Stacey Barker Pleads Not Guilty to Charge of Murdering Her Daughter Emma And Not Guilty To Allegations Of Special Circumstances

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Stacey Barker in court
Stacey Barker pleaded Not Guilty today to murder in the death of her 18-month-old daughter, Emma, whom she initially claimed was taken from her in a violent kidnapping. Along with murder, Stacey Marie Barker is accused of one count each of assault on a child causing death and child abuse. Through her lawyer Barker also pled Not Guilty to the allegations of Special Circumstances.


Deputies allege the 24-year-old woman initially lied to investigators about the circumstances of her toddler's death. She told sheriff's deputies that someone knocked her out as she was putting her daughter into a car seat in Lancaster on the evening of March 19, and that she awoke hours later at a park-and-ride lot in Palmdale.


Barker allegedly inflicted wounds to her head, partially undressed and faked semi-consciousness in an attempt to mislead deputies.Under questioning, she later told deputies that her daughter, Emma Leigh, died in an unspecified accident and said she panicked and dumped the body, according to the sheriff's department.

Investigators recovered the toddler's body in a yard in the 13000 block of El Dorado Avenue in Sylmar, CA. Coroner's officials have not yet issued a final report on how the girl died but sheriff's detectives suspect she was suffocated, a Sheriff's Department spokesman said Monday. "Detectives believe that based on interviews and the condition of the victim that she likely suffocated," Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said.


The maximum penalty Barker faces is 25 years to life in prison, Deputy District Attorney Kelly Cromer said. Sheriff's officials never disclosed what sort of accident Barker said killed her daughter. She is due back at the Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster, CA on June 15, when a date is scheduled to be set for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to require her to stand trial.

Barker is being housed in the Century Regional Detention Facility in the city of Lynwood on
$1 million bail.

source

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Stacey Barker First Claimed Daughter Kidnapped, Then Led Police to Body Claiming an Accident , Now Charged With Murder-UPDATE 2!

Stacey Barker mugshot
UPDATE 2:
This is the latest being reported:

"At this point, as best as we can determine, the infant died through suffocation at the hands of the mother," Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Pat Nelson said. "After her third or fourth version of events, we knew she wasn't telling the truth."

Detectives arrested Barker last Thursday because of "indications she might flee or disappear," Nelson said.

Please remember to light a candle for Emma. Link below

UPDATE:
The arraignment for Stacey Barker was postponed. Barker will be arraigned on May 11 at the Lancaster courthouse.
The charges filed against the young mother include murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse.
The complaint alleges that Barker willfully caused and permitted the child to be injured and harmed and that injury resulted in death.

Click here to light a candle for EMMA!







Katfishponders first reported here about this sweet little girl named Emma Leigh Barker about a month ago when she went missing. This video is from that time.


Emma's mother, Stacey Barker,24, was arrested today, Thursday, April 23 on suspicion of her daughter's murder.


Barker initially told deputies her daughter, 18-month-old Emma, was abducted from her car in the parking lot of a Lancaster, CA park on March 18th. She claimed she was knocked out by the kidnapper and woke up six hours later, several miles away at the Palmdale Park-n-Ride.
Detectives said Barker had injuries consistent with a struggle, including bruises on her head and was taken to the hospital for treatment.


Barker later admitted making up the abduction story. She said the little girl died accidentally, causing her to panic and leave the girl's body near the freeway.


The child's body was found 12 hours later, dumped in a grassy lot near the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar, CA. Authorities said it appeared the girl's 25-pound body had been dumped sometime over the last 24 hours and showed no visible signs of trauma.


The results of an autopsy on child have not been disclosed, although the coroner could not determine the cause of death from the initial autopsy.


Barker was arrested at a home in Lancaster where she and Emma lived with her parents and brother. She is being held on $1 Million bail and is expected to be arraigned Monday, April 27.


resource:
KTLA
KABC
postchronicle
PE.com Sphere: Related Content

KTLA Showing a Short Clip of Opening Statements In Spector Retrial

The retrial of Phil Spector started a month ago, but you certainly wouldn't know it based on news reports or lack thereof. I won't go into a rant about that, instead I'll focus on what is out there this week.

As I have mentioned before, Sprocket at Trials and Tribulations has been attending the retrial and blogging about her experiences there. She mentioned in her entry for yesterday, December 1, (day 11 of testimony) that Harriet Ryan of the LA times had attended court for a bit in the afternoon session.

Ms. Ryan did an interesting piece on the trial. I found her article here on ktla.com. More on her article in a bit, what really caught my eye was a less than 2 minute clip from opening statements on the same page as Ms. Ryan's article. Sprocket reported early on there was a pool camera in court for opening statements but this is the first I have seen of them.
I WANT MORE! Alan Jackson is so riveting and I would love to see Truc Do (prosecution co-council) in action as well. Will we get the opening statements in 2 minute increments? I wish I knew, of course I'll report if I find it anywhere. Please let me know if any of you find something as well. OK?

Back to Harriet Ryan's article, while she attended court yesterday and posted the article yesterday, it had nothing about yesterday's testimony in it. The article focuses on Spector's defense strategy this time around. Rather than try to portray Spector as a gracious and generous eccentric as the defense did in round one, Doran Weinberg paints a much different picture of Spector. Weinberg goes so far as to describe Spector as a gun-obsessed boor with a mouth filthier than a truck stop restroom and mood swings as sharp and scary as a dagger. Whew!
The point of this is to show that Spector pulls guns on everyone, not just women. The approach, his lawyer says, is the only way to combat what the defense considers the most damning evidence against Spector in the fatal 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson: the testimony of five women who say he terrorized them with guns under similar circumstances. Whatever.

IMO, The testimony of Adriano De Souza (Spector’s alternate driver on February 2nd, 2003) is the most damning as it is pretty much a confession of sorts. I think the legal term is an "Excited Utterance". De Souza's testimony ended yesterday. My impression from Sprocket's report is that De Souza held up pretty well even though Weinberg did his best to discredit him. We'll have to wait and see how this jury perceives it all. There is still a long way to go and at the rate it's going this trial will probably last as long as round one.

One last thought I wanted to share. Beth Karas of InSession (CTV) has attended the trial a few days in an unofficial capacity. Beth did call in a report to Jamie Floyd of Best Defense and I thought it interesting she reported Dr. Michael Baden won't be back for this trial. Do you think his reputation couldn't withstand another "aha" moment or does Phil just not have enough money this time around? Probably both! Sphere: Related Content